Council Winter Retreat

    

I just came back from my first Council Winter Retreat in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It was great fun, just like other Council camps.

    The camp was held over three days with the objectives of providing opportunities for councilors to bond, and to plan for next year's activities. It was also meant for us to have lots of fun.

    As I lugged my heavy luggage up the bus, I was brimming with anticipation and excitement. Other councilors seemed to share similar feelings; I could hear them chattering happily about what to expect. Giving out a low groan, and a puff of smoke, the bus moved towards Malaysia. The camp had started!

Following a few Rest and Relax (R&R) stops, which our tour guide joking said it stood for Rush and Release, we arrived at our first destination, Putrajaya. Putrajaya is the nerve city of Malaysia, as many government agencies are all based there. One interesting fact about this city is that the design of every street lamp is different from street to street. I was intrigued by the different designs - some of them looked creatively modern, while others appeared to have come from the Victorian era. The result was a unique city, that appeared to blend in flavours from many ages.
    

Our next destination was the 'High5 Bread Town'. The 'bread town' building appeared to be cast out of stone slabs, and intricate Egyptian hieroglyphic covered the slabs. A big banner hanging over the building proclaiming: "High5 - the Legacy of Bread', added an atmosphere of grandness. These words were found in many places inside the building. There were a few education videos on how bread is made, and even a walkway with sculptures illustrating the history of bread. We walked through a tour of the High5 bread factory. To my surprise, I did not see rows and rows of workers, instead, most of the work had been automated by huge churning machines.

That evening, we played an interesting game to test our teamwork. We were all blindfolded, and had to work together as a team to fix together a jigsaw puzzle. This game really put our communication skills to the test, as we could only verbally describe the piece we have on our hands. Despite the frustration encountered in the process of solving the puzzle, there was a smile of satisfaction on everyone's faces when the puzzle was completed.

    After this challenging game, we sat down to plan the activities for next year. There are three committees in the ProEd Council: the discipline committee, the welfare committee, and the logistics committee. Being a welfare committee member, I brainstormed with fellow councilors what activities we can organise to help students develop in the aspects of 德智体群美 (moral, intelligence, social, physical, and aesthetics). The meeting was quite productive, and we managed to come out with a few good ideas. It seems that we councilors can bond not only through play, but also work. After the meeting, we dragged our tired bodies to the hotel room, cancelling our earlier plans to party.

    After a good night's sleep in my five-star hotel suite, I leapt out of bed the next morning, eager to start another event-packed day. After the visit to the King's Palace, we went to the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia (FRIM) for a trek. Before the trek, a tour guide gave us an introduction to the different animals we would see. Some of them included large leeches, blue caterpillars, and disgustingly giant earthworms. We were especially horrified by the leeches, which could suck our blood. Huge man-eating leeches, like the ones in the book 'A series of unfortunate events' came to mind. The tour guide even cautioned us with a smile, "By the way, if a leech bites you, do not pull it out; it will drop off after a while. Imagine what happens if someone pulls you away when you are biting into a piece of chicken." Immediately, gory pictures of flesh being ripped out surfaced. After the talk, one of my friends was so frightened that he almost did not want to attend the trek. Thankfully, none of us encountered any leeches, or other weird insects, during the trek.

    The last day was reserved for shopping, which many of my friends looked forward to. We were given three and a half hours of free time in Mid Valley Mega Mall to buy souvenirs. After walking one round in the Mall, we did not find much to buy. In the end, most of us left empty-handed. I wonder how some people can shop for many hours without feeling bored.

    Three days passed really fast. Soon, it was time to board the home-bound bus. From this retreat, I got to know my councilor friends better. From the Council planning process, I feel energised and ready to make a bigger contribution to ProEd next year!